Boko Haram fighters have killed seven Nigerian soldiers and wounded 19 more in an ambush in the northeasters state of Borno, the military said on Friday.
The ambush on the Ajiri-Dikwa road hit the troops as they were on a routine rotation on Thursday night, the military said in a statement.
“Seven soldiers paid the supreme price in the incident while 19 soldiers sustained various degrees of injuries,” the statement said.
The troops were in “aggressive pursuit” of the fleeing Boko Haram fighters, it said.
Continued attacks in the northeast have raised doubts about how close the war against the Islamist militants is to a conclusion, despite the military making big gains by reclaiming most territory held by Boko Haram.
In December, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said the capture of a key camp marked the “final crushing of Boko Haram terrorists in their last enclave in Sambisa forest” which was once the group’s stronghold.
The Boko Haram insurgency has killed more than 15,000 people since 2009, and displaced more than 2 million others from their homes.
